The Fibro Forum

This is an open, hopeful platform for people living with Fibromyalgia, their friends & family.

[thefibroforum]

Trigger Points - How to Find Them and Release Them!

Trigger points can overlap with the tender points used to diagnose fibro. They can be extremely painful and seem impossible to release. This post will explore what trigger points are, and how to release them!

Please comment with your experience with trigger points!

Tender Points Vs. Trigger Points

What is the difference between tender points and trigger points, and how will it impact your treatment? For starters, 90 percent of the 18 predetermined tender points are actually myofascial trigger points.4 Trigger points are firm nodules that you can often feel in your tight, rope-like muscles. Pressing on a trigger point hurts in the area and also shoots pain to other regions, while pressing on a tender point is believed to only cause discomfort to the local area.

The finding that most of your tender points are actually trigger points is good news because it opens up your treatment options. There are specific therapies for relieving the painful knots in the muscles where the trigger points are located, and research shows that relieving the pain of just one trigger point can have a significant on reducing your body-wide pain. One of the more popular approaches is therapeutic massage, which involves working out the trigger points to try to get the muscles to relax. In fact, anything that eases muscle tension, such as a hot shower or soaking in a hot tub, will reduce the impact of the trigger points. Unlike tender points, trigger points cause a restricted range of motion (muscle tightness) and they radiate pain to other areas of the body.

The good news is is that you can release these trigger points yourself! While a massage from someone else would be great, you need to be able to release them on your own so that you can be in control.

The first part is finding the trigger points. While many people can accurately pinpoint where their muscle knots are, some people need some help. The most helpful resource I have found is a manual that describes in detail how to find them and release them. 

This book does an AMAZING job diagramming where the trigger points are located and various trigger point releases. I would be lost without this resource.

Release Products

The above manual describes how to release your trigger points using two different products that I can now not live without.

The Knobble 

The Knobble is an amazing self massage product that is cheap and gets the job done. You can lay on top of it, applying as much pressure as you like and rub out your own muscle knots. Trust me - you will be hooked.

The Theracane

The Theracane is the more expensive of the two self massage options, but worth every penny. Using the hook like device to wrap around your shoulder, the Theracane can rub out the worst of knots with ease and without much effort.

The Trigger Point Manual Workbook shows how to use both self massage devices to find your trigger points and release them! The diagrams show exactly where to put each device for optimal pain relief. 

If you are on a budget, for $20 you can get the manual and the knobble and be on your way to massaging your painful trigger points away! The knobble is small enough you can throw it in your purse for whenever you need it. I keep it handy at all times as I never know when a trigger point is going to act up.

If you suffer from trigger point pain, please tell me about it and explore these options to help feel better! :)

How do trigger points effect your pain?

[thefibroforum]

In December 2008 I was officially diagnosed with Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I was 25 years old. Many people would be upset upon hearing this news.

After a year of tests, surgeries, hida scans, ER visits, ultra sounds, blood tests and psych evaluations I did not care what the name...

[thefibroforum]

This was my first post. It has gotten such an amazing response I'm reblogging. :) Hope this helps someone out there. That's why I wrote it.

[thefibroforum]

How To Be Sick

It's hard adapting to being sick. Many times, it comes without warning and your life is turned upside down in an instant. Coping with this change on top of being in pain is a constant struggle. 

I had to stop working, and adjusting to being home all the time was extremely hard. What made it harder was other people's opinions about my life at home. Many people thought I was being lazy, or thought being at home was great. Few people realized that I was not at home enjoying myself, I was home writhing in pain, one day harder than the last. 

Adjusting to my new life as a "sick person" was extremely hard and I felt that I had no one who understood my situation. One day in desperation for help and guidance I searched google for "how to be sick" and a book came up. This book ended up changing my life and my perspective on my new life with a chronic illness. 

Toni Bernhard's book, "How To Be Sick" does an amazing job inspiring and giving guidance to anyone with a chronic illness. Bernhard, struggling with a chronic illness herself, reminds us of our endless inner freedom, even under high degrees of suffering and pain. It gives us the reader hope and ways to cope with the life changes that come so close on the heels of a diagnosis of a chronic condition.

Please check out this book here, How to Be Sick: A Buddhist-Inspired Guide for the Chronically Ill and Their Caregivers

[thefibroforum]

Seeing Through The Fog

I have tried a ridiculous amount of things to help with the fibro fog. When it gets really bad I cannot function like a human being. I can not think straight, remember the words to speak correctly or talk. What was once a brain that worked perfectly, it now fails at the simplest of tasks.

I have tried medications (adderall, ritalin, nuvigil) vitamins (D-ribose) and various other supplements in fits of desperation. Finally, I have found something that helps relieve it enough so I can actually function and think straight some days. And I found it not in a doctor’s office, but at grocery store.

Bragg’s Organic Apple Cider Vinegar. It’s cheap ($7 for a huge bottle) and easy to take. 

Every morning and afternoon all you need are:

2 tbsp Bragg’s Apple Cider Vinegar

2 pieces of lemon

8 oz of water

1 tbsp of honey

Put two tablespoons of Bragg’s Apple Cider Vinegar in a mug and fill with 8 oz. of water.

Add two pieces of lemon and heat for 1 minute and 30 seconds.

After it is warmed up, add a tablespoon of honey and drink!!

It will take some getting used to at first, the taste isn’t the best but it is drinkable. It doesn’t work miracles, but I definitely experience more energy and clearer thoughts. I can’t go a day without it.  Try it and let me know how it works!! Bragg Apple Cider Vinegar Organic Raw -- 32 fl oz

[thefibroforum]

Open Forum

How has your partner reacted to your diagnosis and illness?

[perfectandtrue-deactivated20150]

[thefibroforum]

Seeing Through The Fog

I have tried a ridiculous amount of things to help with the fibro fog. When it gets really bad I cannot function like a human being. I can not think straight, remember the words to speak correctly or talk. What was once a brain that worked perfectly, it now fails at the simplest of tasks.

I have tried medications (adderall, ritalin, nuvigil) vitamins (D-ribose) and various other supplements in fits of desperation. Finally, I have found something that helps relieve it enough so I can actually function and think straight some days. And I found it not in a doctor's office, but at grocery store.

Bragg's Organic Apple Cider Vinegar. It's cheap ($7 for a huge bottle) and easy to take. 

Every morning and afternoon all you need are:

2 tbsp Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar

2 pieces of lemon

8 oz of water

1 tbsp of honey

Put two tablespoons of Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar in a mug and fill with 8 oz. of water.

Add two pieces of lemon and heat for 1 minute and 30 seconds.

After it is warmed up, add a tablespoon of honey and drink!!

It will take some getting used to at first, the taste isn't the best but it is drinkable. It doesn't work miracles, but I definitely experience more energy and clearer thoughts. I can't go a day without it.  Try it and let me know how it works!! :)

Buy Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar!

[thefibroforum]

[rocknroz]

Due to my inability to sleep last night, today is cancelled.

(via rocknroz)

[cloudnein-blog]

[thefibroforum]

How do you deal when you feel like you are disappointing your friends, family or partner? 

[thefibroforum]

You're Not Crazy... Fibro Is.

In December 2008 I was officially diagnosed with Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I was 25 years old. Many people would be upset upon hearing this news.

After a year of tests, surgeries, hida scans, ER visits, ultra sounds, blood tests and psych evaluations I did not care what the name of the disease was. I was HAPPY whatever was happening to me had a NAME. Now that they know what I have they can treat me and I will get better and get back to my life. 

The happiness of a diagnosis did not last long. I could tell from the look on my doctor’s face that this was not something to be happy about. My doctor, a leader in the field of fibromyalgia and rehabilitation started to go over my prognosis. I soon learned that not only was there no cure, I was facing a huge uphill battle. 

He prescribed me a few medications including Lyrica and a muscle relaxant. He described what would be my pharmaceutical "tool box". I would be prescribed medications for the various symptoms of this disease to be taken on an as needed basis. When a symptom would arise, I was to reach into my “took box” and take the provided medication for that specific symptom. He couldn’t promise that any of the meds would work and that there was going to be a lot of trial and error ahead of me.

He then described the psychological symptoms and effects of fibro.

 He told me:

"There are going to be days when this disease will bring you to your breaking point, when you are questioning your own sanity. There are going to be days when you look into the mirror and don’t recognize yourself anymore. I want you to write down on a post it note,

                                  ’ I’m not crazy, Fibro is.’

and put it on your mirror. On the days when you think you are losing it and wonder where you end and fibro begins, look into the mirror and read the post it note out loud. Remind yourself that you’re not crazy, this disease is.”

Of all the things I learned that day about fibro, this silly post it note became one of the most important. It helped me remind myself that these symptoms are not ME! It is the disease that is doing this to me! The post it note helped me put things back in perspective on the days I couldn’t see through the storm. While looking at myself in the mirror I was able to look past the disease and all the bullshit that came with it and just see me. 

Six years later, the post it note is still on my mirror. Sometimes I go weeks without having to use it, but it is there for when I need it. When I am feeling like the pain is never going to end and I can’t keep my eyes open, I look myself in the eye in the mirror and remind myself I am still in there. 

It’s still me inside this sick body. The craziness that this disease causes is a part of fibro, not me. 

[chronicpayn]

[thefibroforum]

[thefibroforum]

Intentions

  My intentions for this forum is to create a place where people can find helpful and useful information to help them in their struggles with Fibromyalgia & Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

I have learned so much on my journey with this awful disease and hope the things I have picked up along the way can be of use to other people.. More than anything I would like to convey a sense of hope to those struggling just to get by.

We are all in this together, and by sharing information with each other; I hope we can come together to build a friendship and create a community where we are believed, respected and heard.